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Topic: Should I be worried? (Read 2882 times)

I inspected my hive this morning for my new queen, 7 days after putting her in (candy plug box) and I could not find her!She was not marked though.

Three attendants were dead in the box but the others and queen were not in. I have not found the queen laying dead in the bottom of the box or on the ground. Tell me what you all think. Did I just miss her?

1: I got the bees out of an old house, they had a queen but no drones and not many brood.2: I did not wait the 24 hours after removing (I killed her) the old queen. I took out the old one and put in the new boxed one between frames. Sprayed a little sugar water around them too.3: I kept enough old comb to fill 9 super frames and these are what I have in the deep.

Nah, not yet, you just missed her. If your queen is not marked I find that I rarely see mine. I have been working pretty hard to get mine marked. Plus, the only times that I have spotted a unmarked queen is when I have had someone with me. Good luck, our fingers are crossed for you. F

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Don't be yourself, "Be the man you would want your daughters to marry!!"

I inspected my hive this morning for my new queen, 7 days after putting her in (candy plug box) and I could not find her!She was not marked though.

This is one of the many benefits of marking a queen.

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Three attendants were dead in the box but the others and queen were not in.

It is not uncommon for attendants to be killed.

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I have not found the queen laying dead in the bottom of the box or on the ground. Tell me what you all think. Did I just miss her?

They could have carted her body away, but there is also a good chance you missed her. Was there any eggs/young larve? If yes then I wouldn't worry, chances are you just missed her.

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1: I got the bees out of an old house, they had a queen but no drones and not many brood.2: I did not wait the 24 hours after removing (I killed her) the old queen. I took out the old one and put in the new boxed one between frames. Sprayed a little sugar water around them too.3: I kept enough old comb to fill 9 super frames and these are what I have in the deep.

How long where they in the house? By disposing of the queen, you lost all the feral/survivor genetics as well :(

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I'm worried they killed my queen. Should I be?

If you didn't see any eggs or brood then you may have. Usually queens get right to laying when they get out. If it a couple of more days and see if you can find any eggs. If not, give them a frame of eggs from another hive and see if they make queen cells.

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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

I did not read anything about the good side to feral queens until after the fateful day! I read a lot about replacing your queen each year and the tendancy for wide colonies to be a little hot. I have plans to get another colony from a house next week and this time the queen will live. Plan on using the "funnel" method? Because the owner does not want us to cut into the house. Thanks for all replies. A great forum. I needed it about two weeks earlier to get the right info.

They were in the house a long time. An entire wall panel 6' x 16" was filled with comb. Most of it was very dark in color and filled with SHB. We rubber banded 9 frames of old comb and left the hive over night. Used some white napkins taped to the front and the bees crawled right up and into the hive. We closed it up the next night and took it home. Pretty successful for first timers. I hated killing that queen.

I did not read anything about the good side to feral queens until after the fateful day!

That's a shame. Sounds like you lost a good one.

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I have plans to get another colony from a house next week and this time the queen will live. Plan on using the "funnel" method? Because the owner does not want us to cut into the house. Thanks for all replies. A great forum. I needed it about two weeks earlier to get the right info.

Not to disappoint you, but it is very rare to get the original queen in a trap out. In most cases they refuse to leave the old brood. In all the trap outs I have done, I have never gotten the original queen. IF anything, you will end up with a laying worker by the time your done unless you give them a new queen or brood that they can raise a queen from.

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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

We were able to tear out the sheetrock and scrape the wall of all comb, so they had nothing to go home to. We bagged the comb we did not use and took it to the dump. We obviously got the queen on one of the combs we rubber-banned. Lesson learned. We are going for the next cut out this weekend.

The first hive was an easy cut-out, the next one is a funnel. I did not make that clear. I am pretty handy with a hammer, so I may try sweet talking the homeowner into some free remodeling, especially after they hear it may take a month to funnel out the queen!!! :shock:

Are feral queens/colonies more aggressive (hot) in general? I was really shocked at how easy-going the ones from the cut-out were. They never really went after us or bumped us. I think many were in the field, however. We did the cut-out from 9:30 until lunch.